


Alternative Gungnir Gale Online

by VariablePitohui



Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear, Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Fluff, Not major spoilers though, One Shot, Romance, Spoilers, mostly like who participates in Squad Jam 4 with who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:47:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23052709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VariablePitohui/pseuds/VariablePitohui
Summary: When Kanade Amou starts playing Gun Gale Online - as the fearsome spear-wielding warrior known as Gungnir - with her colleague and friend, Elza Kanzaki, she makes quite an impression on the Squad Jam's regular players. Now, as they prepare for the seventh Squad Jam, how do Kanade's teammates and foes react to the addition of Gungnir to the battlefield?
Relationships: Kanzaki Elza/Amou Kanade
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	Alternative Gungnir Gale Online

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pleased to unveil what's very much a self-indulgent one shot crossover bringing Kanade Amou into the world of Gun Gale Online! Kanade's portrayal here - nay, this entire thing, really - is inspired by fellow AO3 member CinnabarCinnamon's take, developed through personal discussions, on Kanade Amou. For those of you wary of spoilers, I've tried to minimize spoilers about the events and results of the third and fourth Squad Jams, though I haven't been shy about mentioning team compositions, characters who debut in them, or alliances and rivalries that form, so take caution if you're avoiding that information. I'll have some more notes at the end, to explain a few choices in more detail.

The bar was as crowded as ever. Crowds of burly, rough men milled about, the blue and pink neon lighting providing just enough illumination to allow anyone inside to make out the faces of most of the patrons. Most of the crowd sat in small groups, most no larger than a dozen men, around the tables and island countertops strewn throughout the space. The roar of the crowd of bargoers was tremendous, the kind of noise that only comes to fill a space when numerous groups, all holding their own conversations and unaware of their own loudness, begin to speak over one another to make their voices heard to their friends over the background chatter. It was the product of a vicious cycle. Individual groups would raise their voices, the overall level of noise would increase, and the patrons would have to shout even louder to hear their friends and allies. The end result of this process was a unique type of cacophony, the very one that made it impossible for the few well-mannered bargoers to have a conversation at a reasonable volume. Of course, the men had plenty to talk about. They were placing outrageous bets, some with real stakes and some which, they would soon be frantically explaining to their irate friends, were nothing more than jokes. They speculated on the outcomes of the upcoming event, bragged about their exploits - both on the battlefield and in the bedroom, both real and fantastical - to their comrades, and raised their glasses in merriment. Unsurprisingly for a bar filled with hyped-up, loudmouthed men, there were, mixed in among the otherwise jovial crowd, men butting heads, groups of comrades already swearing at one another as exchanges of attitude devolved into more heated shouting matches and bravado-fueled threats. 

In any other bar, it would have been possible to blame the aggression and the tension on the alcohol, but, in spite of the frothy beer filling glasses throughout the bar that would seem to indicate otherwise to anyone with eyes, there was no alcohol in this establishment. This bar existed in a virtual world, a world of guns constructed in the VRMMORPG known as  _ Gun Gale Online _ . While the bar's patrons felt the sensations of drinking thanks to the FullDive technology of the Amusphere, the console through which players accessed the game, no alcohol entered their bodies. Were there any effect on them at all caused by this in-game drinking, it was only a placebo effect. No one called their fellow patrons out on their behavior, however, and, despite all the bluster, no one rose from their seats to fight outside or even made a move on their fellow patrons. They could do no damage to one another in the bar, which was in the limits of the safe zone in the city of SBC Glocken, true, but they had good reason not to fight, anyways. They hadn't gathered to fight, after all, but to watch the carnage that would inevitably unfold in the seventh Squad Jam. Though it still had yet to achieve the notoriety and widespread recognition that the Bullet of Bullets tournaments had, the game's biggest team battle royale event, which saw players form teams of up to six players - the titular squads - and fight to the death until only one squad's members remained alive, had gained a reputation for having the fiercest battles in  _ Gun Gale Online _ . The fans of the Squad Jam, naturally, eagerly awaited each installment of the massive battle royale, and turned their full attention to the events while they were ongoing. With the seventh Squad Jam less than an hour away, a healthy crowd of spectators had gathered in this bar, knowing that among their ranks there were also entrants, teams of players set to soon become the vicious and fierce competitors fighting each other in the event itself. 

For the most part, the crowds of bargoers had little difficulty distinguishing the spectators from the competitors, even those with almost no knowledge of  _ Gun Gale Online _ 's players. As most of the spectators chattered away, the teams preparing to compete took a more reserved approach, choosing to focus on their preparations as they huddled around the tables they had claimed for themselves and discussed plans in hushed whispers. One duo of competitors, however, broke the mold. Anyone who had seen the previous Squad Jams could easily - and correctly - stake their fortune on the pair competing in this event, just as they had the one before it. Yes, those in the bar familiar with the pair happily explained to the ill-informed that the two women sitting at their own table near the back of the bar constituted a significant threat, but a casual observer with no friends to say otherwise might not have even guessed that the two women, laughing so uproariously that they were audible even over the cacophony of the crowd and seemingly carefree, were even registered to compete in the event. 

Unconcerned with the world around them, the two women leaned back in their seats, their heads thrown back in laughter as their eyes followed the action on the screen of a tablet propped up on their table. In a short while, screens throughout the bar would be filled with live broadcasts of the Squad Jam's most brutal engagements. At this stage, though, the women weren't watching footage from a Squad Jam. No, the upper left corner of the screen clearly displayed the title, revealing their video of choice to be a recording of a training session by HTS, another of  _ Gun Gale Online _ 's teams. In the center of the screen, a man of about average build and dressed in a generic military-style camouflage-pattern uniform stood in the middle of an open, rocky field, clutching a moderately long metallic rod in his right hand. Surveying his surroundings, the man, clearly at the behest of some off-screen signaler, assumed a more-battle ready stance and brought his left hand around the bottom of the rod. With one fluid motion, he slammed a button embedded near the base of the rod, causing a shaft to extend out - with much in the way of extraneous flashing lights and wailing, siren-like sounds - of the rod, making it, at its maximum length, look not too dissimilar to a metallic bō staff. As soon as the staff achieved its maximum length, more metal structures folded out from the tip, assembling themselves into a large spearhead and completing the device's transition from a rod an average adult could hold with one hand into a full-length, combat-ready spear. 

This weapon, called the Xenospear because its in-game backstory held that it had been alien technology recovered from the wrecked remains of enemy spacecraft, had been introduced into the game as a weapon for the victors of the fifth Squad Jam. A month after its introduction, it was made obtainable for all players. At first it had attracted little attention, being dismissed by the game's gun nuts as a mere novelty, but players of all levels began to clamor for the weapon after seeing it used to great effect by a fearsome player in the sixth Squad Jam. As rare and exclusive as it was, however, those who wielded a Xenospear were either wealthy enough to have purchased one or had been very lucky in receiving one as a rare drop from difficult missions. 

The members of Team HTS had been part of the latter group. With his spear fully deployed, the man in the video rushed forward as the camera turned to reveal his target. Another member of his own team stood at the ready, serving as his sparring partner and equipped with an AK-47M assault rifle. Despite the spear-wielder's flashy maneuvers, the outcome of the encounter was determined rapidly and decisively as he found his body riddled by bullets before he could even attempt a strike on his teammate. The sorry sight was only one among a sea of comparable scenarios. Most players simply lacked the skill and familiarity with a spear to effectively use the weapon against foes armed with all manners of firearms. Team HTS's training session video ended abruptly with the disappointed groaning of a chorus of men and a cut to black.

The video had ended, and another video popped up on the tablet's screen to take its place, but the woman holding the remote, too distracted cackling and reveling in the spear-wielder's misfortune to be ready to begin the next video, paused the new video before it could get more than two seconds in. With her tall, intimidating stature, skintight black bodysuit, and the brick-colored geometric designs tattooed on her cheeks, the cackling woman was instantly recognizable to anyone who had watched the previous Squad Jams. Pitohui, as she was called in the world of  _ Gun Gale Online _ , had gained a reputation for her ruthless and vicious approach to combat, and a disregard for almost everyone around her which bordered on sociopathy. Given she had yet to place lower than fifth in any Squad Jam she had entered, the bargoers had good reason to believe she would once again become a fierce competitor in this event, especially with her equally-powerful companions once again expected to team up with her. Yes, given that she would be joined by the two-time champion LLENN, the difficult-to-predict Fukaziroh, and the tactical master M, she would be a force to be reckoned with. Her competitors stole glances at her, trying to assess her mood and mental state. She was far from the only one at her table they were interested in, though. No one among the three aforementioned who had been with her since the third Squad Jam had them as concerned and intrigued as the player who sat right next to Pitohui. No, the woman who sat with Pitohui was the one who numerous teams puzzled over, who gave leaders of the squads assembled throughout the bar pause as they ran through their strategies for this event. 

Known as Gungnir, this woman had made a strong impression among the game's players. It was true, yes, that her avatar had flowing, wine-red dark hair, height to match the inches-shy-of-six-foot Pitohui, and a thin, attractive figure, but it was not her stunning appearance alone which had earned Gungnir a reputation as a fearsome player. She had made her mark upon the game in the sixth Squad Jam. Armed with a Xenospear and allied with Pitohui and her friends, Gungnir destroyed any player she had met at close range, most of her opponents - having at that point dismissed the spear as novelty weapon - were completely unprepared to take on an opponent who possessed enough skill to use the unfamiliar weapon effectively. Now, with her reputation as a powerful competitor firmly cemented, she earned almost as many suspicious and curious glances as Pitohui as she laughed - admittedly not as enthusiastically as her companion - at the numerous players who had tried to take up the spear in imitation of her. Still relatively new to the game, Gungnir was something of an enigma to most players, more a foe than a fellow player to socialize with. 

While an enigma to most, Gungnir was, however, quite well-known by a select group of players, such as her companion Pitohui. In real life, Gungnir was none other than the famous idol and member of Zwei Wing, Kanade Amou. Months ago, she had collaborated on a project with a fellow idol, a popular singer known to the public as Elza Kanzaki. Kanade, with her usual friendly demeanor, struck up a friendship with the other idol in spite of Elza's peculiar, spoiled personality, eventually getting the other idol to open up to her some. After a few weeks spent developing a friendship, Kanade had, at Elza's request, tried her hand at  _ Gun Gale Online _ , with Elza revealing in confidence that she was an avid player of the game and the player behind the account known as Pitohui. 

Though… she hadn't revealed right away that she played as Pitohui. Elza, wanting to have some fun, had not been so immediately straightforward with her friend. Instead, she had roped M and Fukaziroh - the latter having volunteered for the task eagerly once it was made known to her - into setting up a ruse where the three of them pretended that Elza controlled Fukaziroh and that Pitohui was an unrelated player who often joined them in the virtual world. Despite Fukaziroh's best acting efforts, it hadn't taken Kanade long to piece together that Pitohui more closely matched Elza in personality, at which point the bratty idol came clean, admitting openly the ruse had only been carried out for her own amusement. For her part, Kanade took the prank in stride, only further affirming to Elza that she made for a good companion. 

Elza and Kanade made diving into the world of  _ Gun Gale Online _ together a semi-regular fixture of their lives over the next few months, even with Elza unable to convince Kanade to play the game as often as she would have liked her to. With Elza mentoring her, Kanade quickly found her rhythm in the game, even as she admitted that she wasn't as comfortable with guns as she was with a spear, a weapon which she had learned to wield in the real world as a hobby. Elza, desperate to convince Kanade to join a Squad Jam with her, had taken matters into her own hands, When the time came for the fifth Squad Jam and ZASKAR - the company behind  _ Gun Gale Online  _ \- put out a call for sponsors for the event, she put in a bid to sponsor the event once again. This time, however, she offered to furnish funds for a significant portion of the event's cost, rather than merely provide a prize and put up a meager ten percent of the event's costs. In her bid, she made her offer contingent upon ZASKAR agreeing to add a spear to the game, arguing that it would be no different than the Photon Swords that one of the game's developers had already worked into the game over the protests of purists who felt that a game centered on guns should make use of guns exclusively. ZASKAR agreed to the terms, and, once the weapon became available to the entirety of the playerbase, Elza had wasted no time in purchasing two Xenospears, one for herself, and one to gift to Kanade. With a spear now in the game, Elza made her move, imploring Kanade to join her and her friends in a Squad Jam, arguing that she had too much skill with a spear to not at least try her hand at the event. Kanade hadn't needed much convincing, officially signing on for the sixth Squad Jam with Pitohui and her friends as part of team LPFMG as soon as she made sure that her schedule was clear on the day of the event. 

Pitohui didn't resume the videos, even after recovering from her laughing fit. Instead, she turned to Kanade's virtual avatar, adjusted her position in her seat, and sprawled out, laying - with little subtlety - her legs out on top of Kanade's own crossed legs. She stared into Kanade's eyes with genuine admiration, her own eyes glinting with a mischievous excitement. "So, have your fill of watching these idiots kill themselves yet? I bet you're just itching to get out there and slaughter these guys. You're just irresistible, running that big sharp spear of yours right through chest after chest! Last time you went wild on the battlefield, I could barely find that fiery mane you have in that sea of red. This time, you better make sure the air's so filled with those crimson sparks that I lose you in it." 

Kanade, for her part, neither harshly rebuffed nor quietly acquiesced to Pitohui's attempt to lay her legs across her. She simply shifted her body to make the entire arrangement more comfortable for herself, making clear at the same time that she'd allow Pitohui to sprawl out, but only on her own terms. Pitohui's smile was almost imperceptible, but Kanade, well-attuned to Pitohui by this point, caught her signal. Her subtle act of defiance had earned her a sign of approval from the woman in black. Responding to Pitohui's comments, Kanade gave a noncommittal shrug. "I'll do what I need to to help. Isn't it better when we can take people out without getting into close combat, anyways? We're exposed to less risk that way."

"That's right. When the situation calls for it, you and Pito can fight at close range with your melee weapons, but we'll avoid getting drawn into it unless it's absolutely necessary."

She didn't even get a chance to respond. Pitohui, suppressing a growl, sat up and, with Kanade doing the same, whipped her head around to face the source of the new voice in the conversation. Behind them, reaching between them to deliver fresh drinks to the table, stood a towering figure of a man, equipped with a backpack proportionally adjusted to his massive frame. The man, M, was known in real life as Goushi Asougi. Elza's lover, manager, and manservant, Goushi spent every minute of his life that he could spare attending to Elza's every need. Considering his constant presence in Elza's life, it was little surprise that he and Kanade had also gotten to know each other, even if he rarely spoke to her. For the most part, Goushi kept to himself, not willing to intrude on Elza's time with her new friend and only joining in their conversations and activities when Elza ordered him to. 

He had been oddly quiet around Kanade, in a way he hadn't been with Karen or Miyu, the real-life figures behind LLENN and Fukaziroh. Kanade didn't know him well enough to suspect the behavior was unusual, but Elza had picked up on it. After some time watching him act suspiciously around Kanade, Elza had confronted him when they were alone, and had tried to force a confession out of him. He insisted that nothing was wrong, that he only had been concerned about how quickly she had shared her identity as Pitohui with the other idol, fearful that she might someday use it as leverage and try to harm Elza's reputation. Elza rebuked him, noting that Karen, Miyu, or the girls of Team SHINC could just as easily use their knowledge of her real-life self for their own gain and yet he had never expressed concern with any of them. She insisted - not inaccurately - that Kanade was more trustworthy than a group of high school girls or the loose-lipped Miyu. After all, Kanade had her own public face to maintain. She wouldn't want to dirty her hands sabotaging the innocent image a fellow idol had cultivated. Elza had dropped the issue after that, apparently satisfied with Goushi's explanation for his behavior, but it hadn't changed his feelings about Kanade Amou. He had noticed how eager Elza was to spend more time with Kanade, how much happier she seemed to be around her new friend than she ever was around him or anyone else she had regular contact with. Yes, even though Elza herself wasn't aware of it, it was clear to Goushi that the woman he called his goddess cared deeply for Kanade Amou, much more than she had cared for anyone else in all the time he had known her. 

"You just never want me to have any fun. You have to be the boring one, always making us wait around," Pitohui complained, puffing her cheeks and groaning at M's suggestion that they avoid close-range combat. Pitohui looked to Kanade for support, staring at her like a dog hoping for a treat. "C'mon, you get me, right? It's  _ fun _ to get up close and run a weapon through these idiots. It doesn't matter if it's good strategy for everyone else. We're tough enough to handle it. As long as we kill them first, it doesn't matter. Go on. Tell him." Not expecting to be put in the middle of these two with a question like that, Kanade stumbled. "Yeah, we can. I mean, we could do it, probably. But being able to do it doesn't mean that we should do it. There's a-" A massive hand went up, its open palm presented to Kanade's face as a sign she should stop talking. M had noticed the spear-wielder's difficulties coming up with an explanation on the spot, and had intervened on Kanade's behalf to keep her from having to elaborate further. Ignoring Kanade, he addressed Pitohui directly. "We'll take things as they come. For now, you need to get that special weapon you want to use out of storage and make sure it's in your inventory. You can't give it to her to use if you don't have it with you, and I don't want you cutting it close running off to get it right before we start. It's bad enough that LLENN and Fuka still aren't here. I don't want to have to round you up too." Pitohui glared at him, no longer refraining from growling, but M didn't break eye contact. Pitohui knew that she could get M to do anything she wanted, but, with more exciting fights only a short time away, she gave in. "Fine. I'll go get it myself. Wouldn't want my flaming spear over here to go without her gift, after all. Keep her entertained until I get back," Pitohui said with a shrug of her shoulders as she rose to her feet. 

M and Kanade watched in silence as Pitohui sauntered off. Finally, once Pitohui was well out of earshot, M broke the silence. "Listen. Do what you have to do. If you have to use that spear, do it and do it well. Don't do anything stupid that's going to make it harder for Pito to win. But you should know how she is." He spoke with his gaze focused firmly forward, unable to address Kanade directly, not while knowing his motivations for trying to scare her away from Pitohui stemmed from selfish desires to keep her for himself. "If you indulge her bloodlust, it's only going to make her want more out of you. Not just in the game, but in real life, too, in every area. If she thinks you're capable of being like her, she'll work to make you like her, try and twist you into seeing the world the same way she does. I can't tell you how to act around her, but you should be careful." Kanade listened to his words attentively, mulling them over. She responded after a moment of contemplation, likewise speaking without addressing him directly. Turning back to look up at him would have been an unnecessary strain on her neck. "Thanks for the advice, but I think I'll be fine. She's not the kindest person in the world, but she's not a bad person, either."

M offered naught in response but stony-faced silence. He hoped to make her uncomfortable, to force her mind to linger on his grim warning. Unfortunately for him, Kanade didn't show any signs of concern. She looked pretty relaxed, actually, lounging back in her seat, focused more on the upcoming tournament than worrying about Pitohui's nature. M could see clearly that his tactics weren't working, and he prepared to bring out heavier artillery. But as he opened his mouth to fill Kanade's head with more doubts, a cheerful shout - loud enough to be heard over the rumbling of the crowds - cut through the awkward air he had been trying to create.

"Miss Guuuuuuungniiiir!" Fukaziroh had never been one for subtlety. LLENN, trailing a few feet behind her, well beyond the point where she bothered to conceal herself in a hood, raised her head only enough to let her avoid bumping into the milling crowds, trying to hide her blushing face and irritated expression. They already had enough attention from the crowd. They didn't need to draw more eyes to themselves. She took some consolation in the fact that her blonde companion wasn't shouting out Kanade's real life name. 

Fukaziroh slid next to Kanade on the couch, not even registering the unusual silence at the table. The blonde girl chattered happily, to the point one would have thought she was gossiping with friends at the mall, not preparing for a battle royale where she'd run the risk of being brutally slaughtered. "Are you ready for the big day? You're probably not nervous on a day like this at all, are you? You go out in front of big crowds all the time in real life. That's gotta be scarier than seeing them all in the game, even if the people in real life aren't all pointing guns at you." Kanade pondered the girl's questions for a moment, tilting her head up and failing to notice LLENN sidling up next to M. "To be honest? It's not really all that different. In both cases, you have to go out there and give it your all. It's less about the other people and more about whether or not you put everything you have into what you're doing. It all reflects your effort, not anyone else's." 

Fukaziroh nodded her head in understanding, all the while understanding none of what Kanade had said. "Ahh, wise words from such a fearsome warrior. You must have been a samurai in a previous life. But I have smart ideas sometimes, too! Like one I was thinking about earlier today. If we win today, you should hold a concert with Pito, and let us all come to see you perform. We can come backstage and talk and have a party to celebrate our victory. And if we lose, you should still hold a concert with Pito, and we can all meet up afterwards to drown our sorrows with whiskeys and curse our rotten luck and the cheating bastards who-"

"I think that's enough, Fuka." LLENN cut off Fukaziroh's rambling fantasy, not out of concern for Kanade - the idol seemed to be taking Fukaziroh in stride, chuckling at her elaborate scenario - but out of concern for a more important matter. She needed to know their strategy. For this, she turned to M. "Do you know anything about what gimmicks this one's going to have? There's some special event they're going to activate at some point, right?" M nodded in response. "Mhm. I don't know all the details, but I've heard that this Squad Jam has a different sponsor than any of the previous ones. It's another author. Apparently he heard that they added another melee weapon to GGO and jumped up and down with excitement, screaming something about his vindication finally coming, and how melee weapons would be the future of the game's battles. If I had to guess… whatever this special event is, it'll be made to favor players with melee weapons and close-range combat skills."

"That's great for us! We have two of the best melee users on our team," Fukaziroh excitedly chirped. LLENN, by contrast, stared down at the ground, her hand on her chin. "But… to encourage close quarters fighting, they might funnel us all indoors. That would give Memento Mori a significant advantage…"

"Or, it sets them up for a humiliating defeat." Pitohui interjected with a terrifying edge to her voice, taking the other four members of her team - who had been too wrapped up in their discussion to notice her returning - by surprise as she rejoined the conversation. "Don't you remember my dazzling performance in SJ2? They aren't as tough as everyone makes them sound. I bet our sweet little harpooner here will send her spear through them like an old-time whaler. Maybe she'll even burn them as fuel afterwards," Pitohui hugged herself tightly as she spoke, watching Kanade carefully in hopes of seeing a reaction on her face, "so we can cuddle up by the fire and warm up while watching their bodies turn into ash." When she noticed her comment had inspired nothing more than a quizzical raised eyebrow from Kanade, rather than the frazzled reaction she'd hoped for, she turned from her own team to another, a group of six men sitting at their own table a ways off. Waving like a performer greeting a fan in the crowd, she called out to one of the men, the only one of the six staring intently at her and her team. "Do you hear that, Daveed? You better stay alive long enough to give our newest team member some practice hunting live prey!"

Over at his own table, David, leader of Team Memento Mori, sheepishly averted his gaze as Pitohui's eyes locked with his own, prompting Kenta, Lax, and his other teammates to look at him with concern. Sure, they had lost to Pitohui alone twice before, and the last Squad Jam had given them good reason to be wary of the new Gungnir girl, but they didn't have any reason to be scared, did they? Sensing his team's apprehension, David shook his head, raised it up, and addressed them in a hushed tone. "Listen, we know what those four are capable of. The little one with the grenade launchers is hard to predict, but she's no threat at close range. Pitohui is… We always stay on guard with Pitohui, understood? That crazed woman is capable of anything." The team paused in silent contemplation for a moment, each member imagining what Pitohui might pull on them next. One of the men, though, doesn't worry only about Pitohui. Bold, his thoughts clearly on someone else, broke the silence first. "And what about the new player, Leader? What's the plan for Gungnir?" "Well," David responded, "we don't know much about her-" 

That wasn't entirely true. David knew more about her than he was letting on. He had spoken to her, actually. After the last Squad Jam, about one week afterwards, as a matter of fact. He had happened to catch sight of her and her teammates as they finished off a quest. He watched as they divvied up the loot, keeping himself hidden. Had he been looking for a fight, he probably could have had an easy kill on at least one of the five, but it had seemed a better use of his time to see if he could glean anything about team LPFMG's strategy or weapons. Unfortunately, he had missed his chance to see his rivals fight together, but he could at least watch them as they made their way back to Glocken, the five of them moving as a coordinated unit. Not many players would have been dumb enough to attack one of the most renowned Squad Jam teams, but the five of them moved carefully anyways. Their formation as they traveled was clearly designed to take advantage of their strengths. He watched as LLENN and Pitohui, the two fastest members and the ones most experienced in initiating combat, took the lead, Fukaziroh following slightly behind, no doubt so she could bring her firepower to bear on foes the moment the other two girls called upon her to do so. In the rear, M followed just slightly behind Gungnir. David smirked at the sight. It seemed counterintuitive to have a close-quarters combat specialist in the rear, where she'd be forced to run - under fire - to the frontlines to support her teammates, but he recognized the strength of the strategy immediately. The two girls in front could handle themselves just fine. Gungnir's aid would be a boost, but circumstances would have to be exceptional for them to require it, at least out here in the field. So they kept her in the back, next to their defensive specialist. If someone tried to let the team pass in front of them and attack from the back, M could take the fire for Kanade, deploy his shield, and force their enemies to - if they wanted to have any hope of a successful quick ambush - charge in for a close-range attack. As soon as the enemies had rushed at M and his shield, of course, Gungnir would be able to rush at them with her spear, getting cover fire from M and, if necessary, Fukaziroh. Yes, it was a smart strategy. But it also meant that M and Gungnir were a ways behind their teammates, and, if Pitohui and LLENN weren't around...

David hadn't planned to speak with any of LPFMG's members, but, as often happened in GGO, his plans changed. He checked his surroundings for enemies, then rushed out of his hiding spot to catch up to M and Gungnir, his weapons stored in his virtual inventory and his hands held over his head. His two rivals were wary, but neither moved to attack him as he approached. Neither of them spoke to him, either, seemingly content to watch him intently. Realizing that neither the man-of-few-words M nor this enigma of a player were going to speak, David put his intentions on the table without hesitation. "You there," he pointed at Gungnir, "I'd like to speak to you for a moment." Gungnir, to David's consternation, remained close to M, responding amicably but not breaking away from her teammate. "Alright, sure. What do you want to talk about?" David frowned. He'd have to press a little harder to get her to break away. Keeping his tone as even and serious as always, he shook his head and responded matter-of-factly. "Not here. What I want to talk about, it's better if we're alone to discuss it. I can guarantee you that you won't be harmed. This is an offer to talk, not an attempt to gun you down while you're vulnerable. I'm not like  _ her _ ." David spat out his last few words with vitriol, shooting a pointed glance at M as he did. "You either come down, talk, and get useful information, or you choose not to trust me and you pass up what I have to say. I'm willing to talk. Whether or not you choose to take advantage of the opportunity presented to you is your decision."

Gungnir didn't bother to hide her irritation at David's additional comment, rolling her eyes at the way he had tried to frame her choice to decline as an act of stupidity. He had tried to close an option off to her by making walking away a shameful act, and she didn't appreciate it. Nonetheless, she exchanged a quick glance with M. The large man simply nodded, and he began trotting off to catch up with the rest of the squad. Gungnir approached David carefully, keeping her guard up as she closed in on her fellow player. She spoke first, putting the onus on him to proceed with the conversation. "You were the one who said you wanted to talk. I'm listening. Tell me what you have to say." "Right," David nodded, "then let me cut to the chase. Answer me something. Why are you working with Pitohui?" He genuinely wanted to know. M was a man of mystery. He had no idea how Pitohui and her loyal companion had met, but it was clear even to him that M was devoted to his charge. LLENN and Fukaziroh, while far from weak girls, were more than likely overwhelmed by the crazed woman's personality. But Gungnir? Gungnir seemed like a woman who could stand on her own two feet, even against Pitohui. She didn't seem like she'd be working with the vicious woman if she didn't want to, so how had she been roped in? Gungnir was happy to avoid beating around the bush. "I know her in real life. She was the one who got me into the game. She's fun to play with when we can play together, and that's about it. I haven't had a reason to team up with anyone else." Genuine confusion creeped into David's expression and his voice as he processed her answer. "But you  _ have _ seen how she is, right? You saw in the Squad Jam, didn't you, how she treats her enemies? How she holds her allies in just as low a regard?"

Gungnir narrowed her eyes. She hadn't been fond of David's tone even from the start of their talk; he had struck up the conversation, but this felt more like an interrogation than a friendly chat. "Yeah, I've seen it. I know how she is. Sure, she's more aggressive and sadistic than your average player, but it's not bothering me. She's not hurting anyone, so there's no reason not to stick with her." "Then you don't know," David narrowed his own eyes, an edge in his voice, "the person she really is. You might think you know her because you know her in the real world, but you haven't seen her like I've seen her. Suffering, pain… it's fun to her. She wants to see the people around her in pain, no matter who they are. I don't know what act she's put on around you, but I'm telling you now, she  _ will _ stab you in the back. She  _ will  _ throw you to the wolves if she thinks it'll-"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Gungnir cut David off, sticking her hand out in front of his face and matching the edge in his voice with her own. "Are you trying to say I'm an idiot who doesn't know what she's in for, huh?" Seeing the anger in her eyes, David backed down. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all." "Then," Gungnir interjected, "I must have misheard you, because that's what it sounded like to me. Listen, I know what I'm getting into. I can choose who my allies are for myself. If that's all you were worried about, you can stop worrying." With those words, Gungnir turned and headed off to catch up to her squad, done with the conversation. David had watched, in silence, her walk off, stewing on the way she had rebuffed him. In that moment, he had decided that she, like Pitohui, was an enemy worth targeting at the earliest opportunity. 

With his team looking to him for strategy, though, David pushed away the stinging memories and declined to share his experience with his teammates. "But what we do know is that she's unrivaled with that spear at close range, and that, while she didn't seem the most comfortable with guns, she mostly stuck to long range, high-powered weapons last time. She's new, so she's probably still finding her niche, which means that she'll probably have trained more with those types of guns. Knowing Pitohui, too, she probably went and bought some unreasonably rare gun for Gungnir to use to maximize her advantage at a long range. That makes her a threat both in close quarters and at a distance. Taken altogether, that means we'll need to-"

"-lure her into medium-range combat, where her guns will be too bulky to be effective but she'll be too far to use her spear." Team SHINC's Eva led a similar strategy meeting at another table, Anna, Roza, Tanya, Toma, and Sophie listening with their full attention. "We minimize her capabilities by putting her in an unfavourable situation. It's good. But, Boss," Sophie inquired, "how are we going to lure her out there?" Eva didn't miss a beat in answering her teammate's question. "It's simple. We use a lesson from LLENN. Tanya's the fastest member of our team. It'll be risky, but she'll move in close to Gungnir, just enough to make her seem like an easy target if she breaks out her spear. Once Gungnir's taken the bait, Tanya runs, staying just far enough ahead to keep out of range of the spear while staying close enough to be worth pursuing. She'll lure her away from her squad, and we'll be in position, waiting. Tanya will bring her to us, and then we engage the enemy from an optimal range."

Back at LPFMG's table, no one discussed strategy, much to LLENN's frustration. As a matter of fact, none of the five team members were discussing much of anything with each other, their table overrun with five burly, loud-mouthed men with large ammo-feeding backpacks strapped to their persons. The five men crowded around the edge of the table, leaning over the table to get as close as possible to Gungnir, the lone woman among them opting to hang back and stay quiet. These men were no perverts clamoring for a date, however. No, had they been perverts, Pitohui would have already smacked their heads and left them reeling on the floor. Instead, Pitohui and Fukaziroh stood behind the couch, barely containing their laughter. As usual, M was unreadable, and LLENN looked more exasperated than anything. The five men and one women who had taken over their table to talk to Gungnir? They were the members of Team ZEMAL, otherwise known as the All-Japan Machine Gun Lovers. As the group's representative, Huey spoke on their behalf, even as Tomtom and the other three interjected with their own excited shouts. "We saw you in the last Squad Jam, and we know you like guns that pack a punch. We members of the All-Japan Machine Gun Lovers are here to present you with the hardest-hitting gun of them all. Feast your eyes upon the beauty of the MACHINE GUN!" The other four men joined in, shouting "MACHINE GUN" in unison as Huey - quickly pulling it out of his virtual inventory - handed an M240B machine gun, the same model he used, across the table to Gungnir, who accepted it happily, if with some surprise, flashing a grin at the fun-loving men as she felt the weight of the gun in her hands. "Thanks, boys! I haven't used one of these before, so I'll have to get used to it, but once I do, you might be on the receiving end!" "Yeah-ha-ha," Max responded for the group, "a machine gun on machine gun fight!"

As Gungnir accepted her gift, the woman standing behind the five machine gunners - Bebe - bugged out. "I didn't know you were planning to give her a gift! No, no, no way! You don't give the enemy a gift they can use against you before you battle them! Besides, we had bought that gun for  _ me _ to use, remember?" The five men of ZEMAL turned away from Gungnir, looking at their sixth member with confusion. Peter first addressed her comments. "No offense, but we weren't sure that you were all that interested in machine guns anymore." "Yeah," Max offered, "you barely let us fire a shot in SJ4, and you haven't been letting your machine gun roar." "Mhm," Tomtom agreed, "machine guns were made to roar! You're blaspheming the Goddess of Machine Guns, silencing a majestic beast!" "Besides," Huey again turned to Gungnir, "we were thinking that, if you didn't want to fire a machine gun anymore, Gungnir could join us and honor the glory of machine guns!" As the five men pumped their fists into the air, grins adorning their faces, Gungnir chuckled at their offer and returned their enthusiasm. "Sorry boys, it'd be fun to fire this with you all, but I'm already all registered with a team. I couldn't leave these four hanging at the last minute. But if we see each other around afterwards, I'll light up the field with you!"   
  
As ZEMAL's members let out a collective cheer of "GUN-GUH-NIR!", Bebe, realizing she had just been told that her team was shopping around for her replacement, slinked off quietly, her jealousy and indignation clear on her face. Gungnir, from her seat, noticed, but she brushed off the thought of pursuing her. It wasn't her fault if Bebe chose to stew. She'd have been perfectly happy to have a conversation with the machine gunners' female companion, but the burden fell to Bebe to strike the conversation up. Gungnir, after all, couldn't make people like her. If someone wanted to hold a grudge, that was their own problem. 

And, as Bebe plopped down to at the bar counter, next to two other lonely players, she soon found that she wasn't the only player focused on Gungnir. The man sitting on the stool next to her - was he a man? - turned to Bebe and addressed her shamelessly. "Oooh, did she shoot you down, too? She's a real beauty, playing hard to get like a real high-class lady!" Bebe inspected the player beside her, deciding that, no, this black-clad player was definitely a woman. Indeed, Bebe's assessment was correct. The player on her right was none other than Clarence, the woman with the androgynous avatar who, as she herself professed, "loved, loved, loved strong women!" On the other side of Clarence, a green-haired woman dressed in camo interjected with a sharp, stinging comment. "That's not how it went. She had the point of her spear at your throat, and you begged her to let you negotiate with her. When she gave you a chance, you asked if her carpet matched her drapes and if you could steam her carpet for her. Then she stabbed you." Clarence glared at her huntress companion with a ferocious side-eye, but she didn't let her comments dampen her enthusiasm. "That's right. But it's just because she was playing hard to get. She wants me to show her that I'm tough enough that I could provide for a lady with her tastes. I'm sure she'll come around when she feels my embrace and I rip the pin off a grenade. It'll be just like the ending to the third Bullet of Bullets, or like those cheesy romance endings in books where the loving couple dies in their final moments together." "Whatever," Shirley added, as serious as ever, "just stay quiet where we hide and don't get in the way, or I'll shoot you." As Clarence - used to Shirley threatening to shoot her - crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at her companion like a spoiled child, Bebe weighed her options in her mind. She wanted nothing more than to take out Fukaziroh, her longtime rival in the game Alfheim Online, but taking out Gungnir by herself and reasserting her status among the members of team ZEMAL had risen to a close second on her list of goals. Shirley had, in the past, had issues with Pitohui, and Clarence clearly wanted a shot at Gungnir herself… perhaps these two girls, who had once joined the four powerful players as part of Team LPFMSC in the fourth Squad Jam, could make valuable allies…

As Pitohui cleared the members of Team ZEMAL from her team's table, one other team, gathered around their own table, watched the activity at LPFMG's table with a mixture of interest and trepidation. The members of Team T-S, unlike almost everyone else in the bar, weren't concerned at all about Gungnir. Her Xenospear was, though futuristic, made of metal, not superheated plasma, so it couldn't pierce their defensive suits. Those same suits, which made them slow defensive powerhouses, also meant that her favored guns could do no damage to them. Even with their raw power, the distance from which Gungnir would be firing her guns meant that her shots would be too weak to pierce their armor. For once, T-S had nothing to worry about… except, of course, for all of the other competitors in the event. Terrified of Pitohui though they were, they also had a history of alliances with LPFM and their associates, having aided them in the fourth Squad Jam and in the Test Play event. Ervin - the member of T-S with the number 002 - had even grown a fair bit bolder through his work as the representative of his team when negotiating with LPFM. They had nothing to fear from Gungnir, so long as she didn't come after them with some secret weapon or with high-powered explosives and plasma grenades, and she seemed nice enough. They had drawn up plans to seek her out once the event had started, to try and speak with her first, figuring that if they could win over the newest member of LPFMG, she'd advocate on their behalf during the negotiations with her teammates. 

"The Squad Jam starts in five minutes! Participants should make sure they have all members of their teams gathered! Participants will be teleported to the waiting area in sixty second!"  
  
As the blue-haired hostess of the Squad Jam events prattled on through the screens placed throughout the bar, all of the participating teams made their final preparations. Memento Mori went over the final key details of their plans, the SHINC girls all rose from their table in perfect unison, and ZEMAL's members - sans Bebe - took their machine guns out of their inventories and raised them high into the air. At Pitohui's table, LLENN clung tightly to P-Chan, only glancing at her sides to ensure that Kni-Chan and her Vorpal Bunnies were on her person. Fukaziroh chattered something about Grand Grenades to M as she hoisted Rightony and Leftania in her hands, while the ever-silent man kept quiet and glanced at Pitohui, asking without a single word whether or not she was planning to break out her full combat outfit right off the bat. She likewise answered him without a word, only bringing her Krebs KTR-09 assault rifle out of her inventory and leaving the rest of her weapons - and her vest and helmet - to be pulled out later. Waving her assault rifle around in one hand, she took her free hand and wrapped it around Gungnir's chest, running her fingers just between her breasts to avoid triggering the harassment code and to avoid earning Kanade's real-life ire. As Gungnir tightened her grip on her spear, Pitohui tightened her embrace of Gungnir, bringing her face right in front of her companion's. Speaking in a hushed whisper, Pitohui put her lips right next to Gungnir's ear, letting the real Kanade, through the feedback system of the Amusphere, feel her warm, moist breath tickle her earlobe. "Usually I'd bring more weapons along, but I don't think I'll need them, y'know? I've already got the deadliest weapon all wrapped up in my arm. After all, you're a vicious killer who knows how to make a heart _stop_."

And with those words, the bar was filled with flashes of blue light, the Squad Jam participants whisked away to the waiting area as the countdown to the official start of the seventh Squad Jam ticked away its final minutes. As they waited, in their isolated little liminal spaces, for the tournament to begin, every player had Gungnir on their mind. But no player's thoughts were as consumed with Gungnir - and visions of her beautiful form dancing among the corpses she'd soon cut down - as were Pitohui's.

**Author's Note:**

> So, that's that, and now, please, allow me to explain a few things. 
> 
> Bebe is not some original character included simply to pad out Team ZEMAL and add another girl to the roster. She debuts in the fourth Squad Jam, covered in volumes 7-9 of Sigsawa's light novels. I'm running off second-hand information for her character here, so if the books come out in English and I find that I have her completely wrong, I guess I shot myself in the foot there. The basic facts about her, like being rivals with Fuka in ALO, joining up with ZEMAL in SJ4, but keeping them from firing their machine guns as much as they would have liked, that's all solid information. I don't know if they'll localize her name as Bebe or some variant like Beebe or BB, so we'll see when the English volumes with her come out. 
> 
> You might be wondering why I made like Reki Kawahara and shoehorned a melee weapon into a game about guns, or why there's a strong romantic subtext between Pitohui and Kanade in this story. And, to your questions, I can say there is context, but I can't hope to cover it all here. All of it goes back to CinnabarCinnamon's portrayal of Kanade and discussions and scenarios that have stemmed from that. On that note, I'd like to extend my thanks again, since said portrayal was what made me invested in Kanade Amou as a character in the first place. 
> 
> And, since the official light novels don't go beyond Squad Jam 4 yet (unless Volume Ten does next month, but I'm led to believe it won't), anything about Squad Jam 5 and beyond was my own creation, in case I filled anyone with false hope that a Squad Jam 5 actually existed. 
> 
> With that all said, this was just a one-shot, so that's all for now. But, sometime in the future, it might be fun to explore where all the other Symphogear girls would end up, were they to start playing Gun Gale Online...


End file.
